Lakshmi Priya

Dr.Lakshmi Priya is a Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. She has a Ph.D. in West Asian Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and her doctoral thesis was on “Status of Women in Syria under Hafiz al-Assad, 1970-2000.” The thesis deals with the role of the Syrian state in empowering women during Hafiz al Assad’s rule. She wrote her M.Phil dissertation on “India’s Relations with Syria, 1991-2008.” Her research interests include domestic and foreign policy of Syria, Indo-Gulf relations and gender and feminist discourse in the Middle East. Before joining ICWA, she was a researcher with the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, as well as Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, and has also worked at the Office of the Cultural Attaché, Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, New Delhi. She has also worked as an editor for Delhi-based Arihant Publishers. Dr. Priya has a Masters in Arabic from the School of Languages in JNU and is fluent in three languages – English, Hindi and Arabic. In addition to West Asian studies, she has an interest in international relations and political theory. She has published three research articles including on the legitimacy of the Baath in Syria and the Gramscian idea of “cultural hegemony” that appeared in the prestigious social science journal – Social Action. Her other research paper on Galtung’s idea of “positive peace” in the Syrian context was published in Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. The third on feminist discourses in Syria was published in Journal of West Asian Studies and is part of recommended reading for undergraduate curriculum in University of Bern, Switzerland. She regularly contributes articles and commentaries on contemporary developments in the Middle East. Her latest writings can be accessed here.